AFA Convention '96

Abstract

For those aviculturists and bird lovers who did not have the opportunity to

attend the 1996 AFA National

onvention in Concord, California, you can be assured that L.S. aviculrure has crossed over the threshold into a new era. The presentations on stage in the speakers' rooms, the talk outside in the corridors, throughout the exhibition hall and into the lounge and hospitality room sometimes reached a fever pitch concerning new ideas, techniques, successes and outlook.

Phrases such as "long term goals," "quality of care," "commitment to a species," "parent-rearing," "flock habitat," "live foods," and speakers discussing their pets as "my children," seemed to insert themselves into even the most stoic of discussions. For the first time we heard terms such as "food anxiety" and a veterinarian describing a patient, not as an individual pet or breeder bird but as a flock of birds meaning your complete aviary.

The high points were many.

There was Rosemary Low eliciting emotional response and avicultural resolve with her facts about the plight of the Citron-crested Cockatoo and other seriously endangered Indonesian island parrot species.

There was Lyrae Perry urging a full house of listeners to extend their devotion for the Psittacula parakeets with an urgent call to reproduce the Blossom-headed, the Slaty-headed Parakeets and Malayan Long-tailed as they will be the first in this group to disappear from American aviculture.

And there was Alan Lieberman giving hope and delight to the wild bird lovers everywhere with his descriptions of the Peregrine Fund's avicultural programs to save rare and endangered Hawaiian forest avian species.

Convention attendees "oohed and aahed" at the world class slides of hornbills shown by John Azua. They gasped at the courage of Chris Shank

 

as she spoke of her free-flying flock of Red-vented, Umbrella, Bare-eyed and Triton Cockatoos,

They laughed at the wit and wisdom of Dr. Luis Baptista in his "Husbandry of Finches" presentation. And everyone lucky enough to be present marveled at the exotic creatures of Joe Carvalho during the "Live Bird Performance"-tame and ve1y handleable birds like the Andean Condor, Asian owl, Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoo and Golden Conure (that flew over the heads of the audience) and a wonderful group of three fullflighted Chilean Flamingos that walked

erenely up the center isle to Joe in the front of the room. A truly stunning spectacle was the tame Rhinoceros Hornbill grunting in a wonderful, outrageous voice when Joe fed it pieces of a banana.

We gathered for the "Roundtable on Parent-rearing" and heard four aviculturists of different backgrounds (yours truly being one of them) tell aviculture like it is, especially with regard to the males of certain parrot species. What some perceived as an alarm regarding the Moluccan Cockatoo was only intended as one of several key parrot species for American aviculture to work on.

We watched Phoebe Greene Linden give an impeccable program which elevated psittacine behavior work to the level of a new science. We confronted avian disease from a different perspective with Dr. Brian Speer and considered the importance of avian nutrition with Dr. Kris Kuchinski. From Dr. Al Decoteau we learned how birdshows began, and we absorbed genetics with Linda S. Rubin (Cockatiels) and Lyrae Perry (Ring-neckeds).

 

 

 

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